In the last few weeks the Heat have went from not being in the playoff picture to as high as the 3rd seed in the playoffs. At the time of this posting they are holding in the 4th seeded position. The Heat and Pistons collide at the Palace this afternoon. This is the third meeting bewteen these two, each winning once, both games were played in Miami.

According to Keith Langlois at Pistons.com, Rip has been suffering from a concussion for the last two weeks and is questionable for the Heat game. He may need a helmet to go with the mask.

And March saw Rip Hamilton miss the last four games with both flu-like symptoms and the after-effects of a mild concussion.

That was Saturday’s news, when Hamilton skipped the Pistons’ brief practice in preparation for Sunday afternoon’s Miami visit to The Palace of Auburn Hills but worked out afterward under the supervision of strength coach Arnie Kander.

“One of the doctors I went to see said, ‘Did you get hit in the head lately?’ ” Hamilton said. “I never woke up in the middle of the night with my head banging like that.”

As best Hamilton can figure, the concussion occurred two weeks ago when the Pistons returned from their five-game Western road sweep to play Dallas in another Sunday matinee. Hamilton got jolted twice in that game – once when Webber inadvertently elbowed him, causing a three-stitch gash above his eye, and again when Dallas center Erick Dampier shoved him from behind under the basket and he crashed hard to the floor.

BIG WIN FOR THE PISTONS! Their 4th quarter comeback was absolutely awesome, keyed by a 14-0 run with Dice and Fino playing huge. After a disastrous first quarter, the bench did a great job getting the Pistons back in it, particularly Flip Jr. and Lindsey, who actually played really well together in that quarter. Pistons kept it close in the third with Rip coming alive on a bunch of cuts to the basket, and after a terrible start to the 4th quarter, the huge run got them back in it. Down the stretch, Rip, CB, and Sheed hit 3 incredible clutch shots, and when Posey missed a wide open three, the Pistons wrapped it up at the FT line.

Halfcourt trapping defense helped key the big run in the 4th, as the Heat got totally disoriented for a few minutes. Dale did a nice job bodying up Shaq in the 4th, as Flip Sr. left him in for crunch time after Dice fouled out. One major negative in this game was Webber trying to guard Shaq...an utter disaster. Gonna have to mix it up more on him.

Still, I'm pretty thrilled with this win. Great production from the bench, getting them back in it from double digit deficits in both halves, and some excellent clutch play from the starters.

Also, credit to Flip Sr. for getting a tech called on Posey--he pushed off after turning it over, and Flip went crazy running to midcourt to scream at the refs, which paid off in the tech being called.

Some may say it`s troubling because of a close game and no D-Wade. I say BS, a win is a win. The game would have been played totally different if Wade was playing and only God knows if it would have been a win or loss.

Key moment in the game for me was at about the 3:35 mark of the 4th Q, Flip took Fino and Flip Jr out and put Tay and CB in. At the time I thought Flip has made a bonehead move, well it was a good one as both Tay and CB turned in a couple of huge plays in the final minutes of the game.

I am sick and tired of these slow starts and brain farts at times during a game, only to come back. Not all the comebacks are wins!!!

Now that was a fun game and Carlos showed today why he deserves a solid 15-20 minutes in the rotation for the playoffs. Tayshaun is just dog tired playing 40 plus minutes and on that skinny frame of his he's just not built to play so much. Rip will play himself back into game sharpness so I'm not worried about him. If the Pistons could learn to play better 1st quarters they would be downright scary. You got to believe that none of the Eastern teams want to tangle with Detroit in the playoffs which are geared to our strength. I love the grind it out defensive struggles and low scoring games anyday over the run and gun style in the West. Miami just doesn't have a go to guy in the crunch and Shaq is the only thing standing in the way of them having an early exit this year from the playoffs.

Rip will play himself back into game sharpness so I'm not worried about him.

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He looked out of it in the first half, but he got going in the third quarter by cutting to the hole without the ball and getting layups. He was great in the second half, and he played some good D on JWill, who was red hot for most of the game when he was torching CB.